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A Nail in Maliki Government's Coffin?
by Ali al-Fadhily The recent resignations of Iraq's Army Chief of Staff and several of his council military leaders underscore a continuing decomposition of Iraq's U.S.-backed government.
Everybody in Iraq - politicians, political analysts, poets, scientists, porters - seem to agree that the U.S.-backed Iraqi government headed by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is a total failure.
BAGHDAD, Aug 3 (IPS) - Security, basic services, and all measurable levels of
Iraq's infrastructure are worse now than under the rule of Saddam
Hussein. Nevertheless, the U.S., Britain and Iran all continue to
support this government.
"Politicians in this country are the
best at serving their personal interests, and that is what has kept
al-Maliki in power," Amjad Hussein, an Iraqi journalist in Baghdad told
IPS. "Wherever I go in Iraq, people complain of the very bad living
conditions caused by the wrong policies of this government. Even those
who voted for the (Shia) Iraqi coalition bite their fingers in regret
for the support they gave to this group of people who have led the
country into darkness."
Withdrawals from the government by
individual ministers and by political groups was the first sign of the
end of al-Maliki's political life, but the U.S. government has remained
insistent on keeping al-Maliki at the top of Iraq's leadership.
"I strongly believe that it was American
pressure on the (Sunni) al-Tawafuq Sunni group that stopped them from
withdrawal from the government," a senior member of al-Tawafuq told IPS
on condition of anonymity. "I preferred to clear my conscience and so I
have decided to end my political activities. I am looking for a way to
take my family across the border for their safety. It is a sin to be a
politician in Iraq nowadays."
On Aug. 1 Iraq's largest Sunni Arab political bloc, the
Accordance Front, announced its withdrawal from the splintering
government, dealing another huge blow to al-Maliki's hopes of
maintaining a unity government.
The Front has 44 of parliament's
275 seats, and its withdrawal from the 14-month-old government is the
second such action by a faction. Five ministers loyal to Shia cleric
Muqtada al-Sadr quit the government in April to protest al-Maliki's
reluctance to announce a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. forces
from Iraq.
One of the biggest blows to al-Maliki has come from
the Iraqi army after Major General Babaker Zebari, a Kurd who was army
chief of staff, resigned on Jul. 31 to leave for Kurdish controlled
northern Iraq. The resignation of Maj. Gen Zebari was followed by the
resignation of nine other generals in protest against "al-Maliki's
interference with their professional work, and the weakness of the
defence minister."
According to some reports al-Maliki rejected
Zebari's resignation. The regional president of Iraqi Kurdistan,
Massoud Barzani, will address the issue with al-Maliki during an
upcoming meeting in Baghdad.
"Only those who have strong ties with Iran
will stay with al-Maliki," one of the nine officers told a source close
to IPS. "We would rather be assassinated by death squads than be part
of this government that insists on being sectarian and Iranian by all
measures."
Prime Minister Maliki is secretary general of the al-Dawa
Party, and was in exile in Iran after leading insurgent groups against
former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.
Relations between Maliki
and U.S. officials have also collapsed. Last weekend the Daily
Telegraph in London reported that relations between the top U.S.
general in Iraq, General David Petraeus, and al-Maliki are so bad that
the Iraqi leader made a direct appeal U.S. President to George Bush for
removal of Petraeus.
An Iraqi source said Maliki made the appeal
to Bush through a video conference for Petraeus's military strategy of
arming Sunni tribal fighters to battle al-Qaeda to be abandoned.
"He told Bush that if Petraeus continues, he would arm Shia militias," the official said. "Bush told Maliki to calm down."
Petraeus's spokesman Col. Steve Boylan denied these reports,
but evidence suggests that Maliki has been allowing Shia militias to
arm themselves and control vast areas of Iraq for some time now.
A
member of al-Maliki's al-Dawa Party, speaking on condition of
anonymity, told IPS that al-Maliki's opponent, former prime minister
Ibrahim al-Jaafari, is leading a revolt against him and that al-Maliki
is no longer the party's favourite.
"This American and Iranian
made government in Baghdad was brought to power for known reasons,"
Sheikh Ali Mansoor, a member of the Sunni anti-occupation group the
Association of Muslim Scholars told IPS. "They brought in al-Maliki in
order to pass laws that serve American interests, and to guarantee
their long-term stay in Iraq. Now he is working for Iran, and Americans
are losing Iraq once and for all."
Maliki came to be Prime
Minister after political pressure from U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice and former British foreign secretary Jack Straw forced
former al-Jaafari to resign.
"They must change the faces again,
but who could the replacement be," Dr. Lukman Salim, a physician from
Baghdad told IPS. "Americans and Iranians will definitely employ
someone who is worse for Iraqis and better for them."
Ali al-Fadhily,
our correspondent in Baghdad, works in close collaboration with Dahr
Jamail, our U.S.-based specialist writer on Iraq who travels
extensively in the region.
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Writings 
The recent resignations of Iraq's Army Chief of Staff and several of his council military leaders underscore a continuing decomposition of Iraq's U.S.-backed government.
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